Today there are troubling signs that the ability of people to express their religious beliefs without fear of penalty is eroding. This is especially apparent concerning the traditional belief that marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.

The following examples have arisen in the past few years:

Acting on its religious beliefs about marriage, a Christian ministry in New Jersey chose not to rent a facility to a lesbian couple for a civil union ceremony. After the women accused the ministry of discriminating against them, the state of New Jersey revoked a tax exemption for the facility and found probable cause that the ministry had violated a state nondiscrimination law.

A photographer in New Mexico declined to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony on the grounds that doing so would violate the photographer’s religious beliefs about marriage. After the lesbian couple filed a complaint, the New Mexico Human Rights Commission found the photographer guilty of violating a nondiscrimination law and imposed thousands of dollars in costs.

In Georgia, a lesbian woman sought advice from a professional counselor on how to improve her relationship with her lesbian partner. The counselor did not have a problem counseling gays and lesbians but felt it would have violated her religious beliefs to specifically help a lesbian woman improve her romantic relationship with another woman. The counselor was fired by her employer for referring the lesbian woman to a colleague instead of counseling the woman herself.

Legal scholars predict that cases like these are “merely a foretaste” of what religious institutions can expect for taking similar stands against homosexual conduct and same-sex marriage.

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Is this the price of freedom? It sure makes me feel trapped and helpless. Does anyone have an answer to this situation? My rights as a citizen of a free society are being violated if I don't agree with the far left. Really scary!!!! Tricia

Such things as cited in the above article are not only a "foretaste" of what's coming from the Left against religious institutions", but also against any individual or group wanting to exercise their Constitutional 1st Amendment right to any "free exercise thereof (of people's religious beliefs)".

The fact is, the Left is actually mounting an all-out attack against both our Constitutional 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, through not only their extremely selective and misleading bouts of declaring "Separation of church and state! It's in the Constitution!" (which it is not, but is instead in a personal letter written by Thomas Jefferson as an expression of his own personal opinion), but also through their rather conveniently (for them) omitting and ignoring the second half of what the 1st Amendment does say about religion.

To wit: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion (establishing a "State" or "National" religion, not omitting any or forbidding any from public discourse or the public square), OR THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF (capitalized for specific citing and emphasis)".

Whatever religious beliefs any of "We the People" may have, if any, the fact remains that not only are the things in the above article "a foretaste of what religious institutions can expect" from the Left against their Constitutional 1st Amendment "Free exercise thereof (of their religious beliefs)", but those things, and more, are also examples of what any individuals and groups can expect from the Left against Constitutional 1st Amendment "free exercise thereof".

Indeed the Left is mounting an all-out attack against our Constitutional 1st Amendment rights, and others, through such as their extremely misleading and selective bouts of insisting "Separation of church and State! It's in the Constitution!" (which it is not, but is instead in a personal letter written by Thomas Jefferson, expressing his own personal opinion), and their conveniently (for them) excluding and ignoring the 2nd half of what the 1st Amendment does say about religion.

To wit: "Congress shall not make any law respecting an establishment of religion (which means Congress shall not make any law to establish any "national religion" in the U.S., as was the practice of other governments in other countries in the Old World), OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF" (capitalized for specific citing and emphasis).

The plain, unvarnished fact is, that means any law, regulation, or indeed any prohibition or persecution of, or punishment against "the free exercise" of anyone's religious beliefs, is a violation of their Constitutional 1st Amendment right of "free exercise thereof", and is therefore also an Unconstitutional law, regulation, prohibition, persecution, or punishment, period!

To any among the Left which may object and protest, the Constitutional answer is to quote what the 1st Amendment has to say about religion, including "the free exercise thereof". If that isn't good enough for the Left, then we can always remind them that they are free to go to another country with some other constitution and law more to their liking.

The bottom line is that no U.S. citizen is Constitutionally bound or required to surrender 1st Amendment "free exercise thereof (of any religious beliefs, if any)", nor does the Left have any Constitutional right, however selectively convenient they may find it to insist to the contrary, to so attack, omit, or ignore anyone's Constitutional 1st Amendment right to "free exercise thereof".

seperation of church and state is one of the reasons religion has been able to thrive in this country. When all religions are on an even playing field they are able to thrive without envy, and rivalry. Iran is a perfect example of what happens when state and church intersect. If in America we allow the christian religion to hold a stronger place in our society our religious freedom will end and the foundation of the idea of pursuit of happiness will be demolished. the wondeful thing with religion in America is the path on which we travel to find it, when it is forced down our throats by goverment and the head of church it becomes and ugly being. That is why church and state can never intertwine

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